Long-Awaited Stripped Documentary Wants to Top iTunes Chart

Dave Kellett (cartoonist of Sheldon) and Fred Schroeder have been working on Stripped, their documentary on comic strips and their creators, for a long time.

The original Kickstarter funded at over $100,000 in September 2011, 2 1/2 years ago, with a planned delivery in January 2012. Now, the end is in sight. Original backers are waiting on their DVDs (they will ship March 21 from the manufacturer), but digital copies are starting to go out, and the reactions are excellent. Here’s the trailer:

As you can see, the team managed to talk to some real greats of cartooning: Bill Watterson, Jim Davis, Stephan Pastis, Cathy Guisewite, Lynn Johnston, Mort Walker, Scott McCloud, and many more. They also tackle the changing market, with the “death of newspapers” and the rise of webcomics.

The pair are doing a great job getting press, too, with one coup that got a lot of mention: the movie poster, shown here, was drawn by Watterson, the much-missed author of Calvin and Hobbes. This is his first public cartoon since he retired almost 20 years ago.

To further promote the film, the makers are requesting that everyone who can preorder the movie on iTunes, where it will be available on April 1, in order to try and make the movie #1 that day. The movie will be available for purchase elsewhere, digitally and on DVD, on April 2. Update: The film is also available on Netflix.